4

This chapter doesn't follow the manga as closely as the others did, but I hope you still enjoy it! Please review and let me know what you think!

4. I boarded the train to our new headquarters, casting one last glance at the place I had called home for almost as long as I could remember. It was a bittersweet moment. Of course, I had never wanted to be part of the Black Order, so leaving behind the building that held so many of my worst memories was also a relief. But it also held many of my best memories, too, such as joining up with Komui again and meeting the other members of the Order such as Lavi, Allen, and Kanda. I didn't know how to feel as I said farewell to the large, black building.

I turned around, to see Leverrier waiting on the platform, a ticket the same color as mine in his hand. I cringed, deciding on how I felt about it.

The problem was Leverrier. Even if I went to a new headquarters, he'd still follow me there, and I'd still have to make terrible memories at the new place because of him. I knew that life couldn't be perfect, but I wished there was someplace I could go to escape Leverrier.

"Hey, Lenalee!" a familiar voice called from behind. I turned to see Lavi striding over to me, holding up a train ticket that was the same color as mine. "Looks like we're going to be in the same booth."

I looked down at my ticket, not understanding. "It doesn't say where I'm seated on here, though-"

"They have a new system based on color," he explained, pointing to his blue ticket. "Pretty cool, huh?"

I bit my tongue. I knew he hated it when I let Leverrier control my feelings like this, but having to be in the same booth as him was really disconcerting. I gripped onto the ticket with a shaky hand, not knowing how to respond.

Lavi reached out, taking my hand and squeezing it tightly so I stopped shaking. "Hey, what's wrong? You looked fine a moment ago. Did I say something wrong?"

I shook my head. "No, that's not it. It isn't you, Lavi. It's…well, I hate to bring this up again, but-" I pointed to Leverrier "-look who we're sharing the booth with!"

Lavi's eyes lit up and he nodded slowly. "Oh…right. Him." He frowned for a moment, looking over at him, before turning back to me. "Well, don't worry about it. I'll be there with you, so-"

"-And so will I!" Allen piped up from behind us, waving his ticket in our faces. "Link, too, of course. Actually, I think it's because I'm in this booth that Leverrier's with us." He pointed over to Leverrier's card, frowning. "This should be interesting, huh?"

"Yeah, real interesting," I muttered in a gloomy voice. Hopefully the ride wouldn't be too long.

"Lenalee!" Komui called, walking over from the ticket stand. "I tried to get a seat with you, but it seems that your section is full." He looked at my card before asking, "Who else is in your booth?"

I looked up at him, not sure I wanted to tell the complete truth. I was sick of worrying him all of the time. "Well, there's Lavi, Allen, and Link..."

"Leverrier, too!" Allen added in. "This might be a problem."

I smacked my forehead, wishing that he hadn't mentioned that. "Allen…"

Allen crossed his arms, looking at me sternly. "Well, you might as well tell the whole truth. Maybe we can get you into another booth."

I shook my head, lowering my hand from my hair. "No, really, I'll be fine. I need to overcome this fear eventually. This is a good place to start. It won't be for too long and I won't be alone. I need to start getting used to being around him if he's going to be staying at the new headquarters with us." I tried to smile encouragingly at my brother. He let out a sigh before nodding.

"Fine. Just be careful, all right?" He raised an eyebrow. "You don't have to talk to him if you don't want to."

I nodded in return. "Sure. I'll be fine."

"Besides, he might have some of those great cakes!" Allen cried excitedly, quickly changing his mind. I couldn't help but laugh.

A whistle blew and we all turned our gaze to the train. Komui gave me one last grin before going off to where he was boarding. I turned to Allen and Lavi and approached the train, Link and Leverrier not too far behind.

We climbed onto the train and I took a seat between Allen and Lavi. Leverrier and Link sat across from us, accompanied by one of their partners that I didn't know the name of. He took out a book, not seeming to want to talk. I wished I had a book, too.

I almost wanted to talk, though – to Lavi and Allen, at least. That way Leverrier wouldn't get a chance to get a word in. I didn't need him listening in on me, though, so I kept my mouth shut, debating on what do to.

I saw Lavi shoot a look at me before calling out the window to one of the conductors. "Do you know how long this ride is going to be?"

"About forty minutes," he responded.

Lavi turned back to me, whispering quietly into my ear. "This shouldn't be too bad, right?"

I nodded, somehow having lost my voice to my nerves.

The train began moving with a sudden jolt. I kept my eyes focused on the scenery outside, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. It was a good ten minutes before Leverrier spoke.

"It's been quite a week, huh?" he asked conversationally. "It's a shame that the headquarters got so beaten up like that. It could have been worse if you two exorcists hadn't been able to fight off that akuma."
Luckily, Allen decided to be the one to respond to this. "Yeah, really. You should reward us with some of your cake!"

Lavi snickered a little, probably thinking that I would never eat anything touched by him – which was more than true. Leverrier paid no heed to his laughter.

"Yes, it was definitely a close call, Allen Walker. Maybe once you've proven yourself to be who you say you are, you can taste the excellency of my cakes." This time Lavi was snickering because of how vain Leverrier was.

Allen chose not to say anything to that. He looked down at his lap, clenching his fist slightly.

"It seems that I haven't spoken to you since our issue the other day, Lenalee Lee," he continued, finally addressing me. I kept staring out the window, not ready to look at him quite yet. "Do you hold a grudge against me for forcing you to invoke your Innocence like that? You should be thanking me. Because of my push, you were able to defeat the akuma and discover a new type of Innocence!"

"Thank you? As if!" Lavi scoffed. I tore my eyes away from the window; shocked that Lavi had dared to talk to him like that. "She could have died doing that. She has no reason to thank you!"

I looked up to see Leverrier's face fall into a frown. "She's an exorcist, is she not? An exorcist should be willing to give their life away for the sake of their mission at any time. Am I not correct?"

"No, you aren't!" Lavi continued.

It was nice to see someone finally talk back to Leverrier, but I didn't want it to be Lavi. I didn't want him to get in trouble for this. Leverrier's wrath was not something I wished upon anyone else, especially not Lavi, who had already done enough to help me get through the past few weeks.

"Lavi!" I muttered urgently, advising him to stop while he could.

He ignored me. "If you go along with that kind of idea in your mind, eventually there won't be many exorcists left. What do you do then, huh? Do you just plan on forcing humans to try and invoke the Innocence all over again?"
I bit my tongue, shutting my eyes. I didn't want to hear what Leverrier would have to say to that.

"This doesn't concern you, bookman," Leverrier hissed. "You're meant to stand aside and record history, not comment on it! And what are you doing? Holding hands with an exorcist? Who do you think you are?"

Lavi's face turned a little red and he opened his mouth to say something back when the booth began to shake violently. It was as if we were being hit by something on the outside. Two more bangs came, drastically shaking the cart. Allen and Lavi grabbed onto the armrest and I, not knowing what else to hang on to, grabbed hold of Lavi, wrapping my arms around him and holding on tightly.

There was one more bang and the booth stopped moving. I could still hear the train riding along, but the sound became more and more distant. We had been cut off from the rest of the train, but by what?

Allen opened the door to our booth and a large gush of cold air hit us. We stood up, joining him outside of the booth.

Broken bits of the train were scattered along the train tracks, but there was no sign of what had caused us to break off of the train. I let go of Lavi, feeling a little embarrassed, and began looking around the area.

I didn't have to look for long. A high-pitched voice came from behind us, saying in a taunting, singsong voice, "I've found you!" We all spun around to face a large akuma, its arms held out to us as if inviting our attacks. "The Earl has told us all to 'wait back' for a while, but it was just to boring for me!" It grinned menacingly, and in a lower, darker voice, he beckoned to us. "Come, exorcists. Play with me!"